


I Don't Believe in Vampires

by AgentCatt



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Trans Male Character, Vampires, ex military locus, mentions Golden Kamuy without saying the name, talks about the game Rift
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2019-11-18
Packaged: 2021-01-24 14:55:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21340072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgentCatt/pseuds/AgentCatt
Summary: On one of his tours in Iraq, he went on this mission that doesn't exist. During said mission, he was trapped by fallen rubble and something bit him. He doesn't believe it was any type of bat or vampire. He just thinks it's his PTSD that makes him not see himself in the mirror or the military is why he can't handle the sun anymore. He just doesn't know and no one else is saying anything about it.
Relationships: Locus | Samuel Ortez/Agent Washington
Comments: 6
Kudos: 14





	1. A Day in the Life of Locus

Locus doesn’t sleep well. Not since Iraq. He did two tours, but the last one he ended up getting honorably discharged due to an injury and his PTSD. Stopped sleeping most nights because of it. His general said it was sad to see him go because no other soldier even compared to him. He saw that as a compliment, but started to wonder if he’s defective.

So he fought getting a therapist for about a year before it really started to affect him. He wouldn’t go out during the day unless he absolutely had to. So he’d sleep and then stay up all night. The complete opposite of how it used to be. Now he just lives off of his monthly disability checks.

Fed up, he got a therapist named Megan. Thanks to her, he’s slowly getting back to his normal routine, but not 100%. Something feels like it’s missing and he can’t figure out what it could be. He’s tried rearranging his apartment, changing his diet, anything he can think of. Nothing works.

He’s noticed he can’t see his reflection either, but dismisses it as the PTSD not allowing him to see himself for who he really is. He’s brought that up to Megan and she said they’ll work on it. He hasn’t told her that it doesn’t work nine years later. He feels like he shouldn’t really tell her. It’s not that big of a deal to him.

As for today, they’re meeting for breakfast as usual on therapy days. Sometimes it’s just coffee at a coffee shop, but today they decided on a cafe. 

Locus gets there before she does and orders himself a coffee to sip on while he waits. He’s thankful today is cloudy. Ever since coming home, he hates the sun. It’s almost like it burns him. He’s never actually liked the sun to begin with, but ever since getting discharged, he hates it even more. Going out of his way to avoid it or he covers up. Gloves, jacket, hat. His hair covers his neck. Pants, closed shoes, he’s completely covered. It’s usually all black clothing too. It keeps people away from him.

About 15 minutes later, Megan shows up. She sees him before he sees her. Typical. He’s usually just staring off into the distance.

“Good morning Sam.” She smiles and sits across from him.

“Good morning Mrs. Wu.”

“Sam,” she shakes her head.

“Megan, sorry.” 

“No need to apologise.”

The waitress comes over and takes Megan’s drink order, then lets her look over the menu.

“What’s on your mind today?” she asks.

Locus hesitates before telling her, “I had a nightmare last night. It was… peculiar.”

“Tell me about it.” She closes her menu, knowing what she wants.

“I was back in Iraq. It was a slightly different mission from what actually happened.”

He pauses for both of them to tell the waitress their order before continuing.

“The mission went wrong and I was trapped somewhere. No one was around to rescue me. I was there for at least a day when something bit me. But then I woke up. I don’t quite understand why I had this dream.”

Megan sips her coffee, thinking. Trying to collect her thoughts before answering.

“How do you feel right now?” she asks.

He thinks for a long moment. Trying to gather his thoughts into words.

“I think I feel lonely? I don’t interact with people much. Maybe trapped because of it?” 

“That and your history explains the dream minus being bit by something. Do you know what that could be?”

He thinks before shaking his head no. He wishes he knew. But not knowing is what the thing was doesn’t help anything. So, he’s confused by it.

“It could represent a change. Something that happened there that caused your mentality to change.”

“That makes sense…” Locus thinks about how much he’s changed and has a realization she’s right.

Their food comes and they start eating in silence. Locus got the simple two eggs and bacon with toast. Megan got two pancakes. Megan used to tell Locus that his simple meal tells her that he’s a simple man who can tolerate a lot of things. To which Locus agreed and began to like her as a therapist.

“Do you have anything else to talk about?” Megan asks before giving him the rest of her response.

“No,” he thinks. “Just that.”

“That’s okay. To combat the loneliness, I think you should try getting out more.” Locus scrunches his face up in disgust. “I know, I know, but go to places you’re comfortable at. My husband and I host a book club every third Wednesday of the month if you’d like to try that first? That way I’ll be there if you need help with anything.”

“How many people are in it?” he asks.

“There’s eleven people total. You’d be out twelfth.”

They each pay their own bill.

“I’ll think about it,” he gives her a little smile.

“Just let me know and I can lend you this month’s book,” she smiles back. They get up to leave.

“Thank you Megan.”

“If there’s anything else, call or text. I don’t have anymore appointments all day.”

“Okay, I will if needed.”

Bye Sam!” She waves as she leaves.

This is typical now. They’re not together long. It’s however Locus wants the appointment to go since they’ve been seeing each other for so long.

He takes his time getting home since it’ll stay cloudy all day. It’s a nice temperature out today. So, he took a detour to the park nearby. The flowers are in full bloom. They’re beautiful and smell wonderful. He admires them for a little, then heads home.

When he gets home, he gets his journal to write out the appointment and his walk home. Mentions the offer Megan gace him, but it depends on the time of day. Because he’ll need to possibly get his umbrella out. He always feels self conscious with it. It brings attention his way and he doesn’t like that.

But he might have to unless he can spend the night there or if he can come over early in the morning. That’s a possibility, but he doesn’t know if he wants to be around that many people. He’d rather be around less than five. He’ll think about it and give her an answer tomorrow. 

Locus puts his journal away. He heads into his bedroom to read until he feels tired enough to sleep.

He gets woken up at 5pm from his loud ass next door neighbor. This guy always starts around this time unless he’s out. He leans over and grabs his earbuds. He puts on his classical music for now. Sometimes he’s able to fall back to sleep. Tonight is not one of those days.

He takes a deep breath and gets out of bed. Annoyed. He goes to the kitchen, classical music on full volume. He makes himself something small to eat for now. Normal routine.

He mulls over the book club idea, but his mind keeps coming back to his dream. Part of him is glad he got woken up. Because he knew where his dream was heading:  _ “You are nothing but your uniform and a gun. When I give you an order, you best damn well follow it.” _

He tries to ignore it. This is a reoccuring dream. Nothing to talk about. He’s talked it to death with Megan. So all he knows is to ignore it. Megan says he should tell himself that’s not true. That he’s human and not a soldier anymore. He’s human. A civilian now. But now he rather just ignore it.

He sits at the table to eat. He can hear the music through his earbuds. He’s wishing his hearing was terrible or he had the ability to go next door and ask them to be quiet. But he just growls and eats his meal.

Locus takes his plate and rinses it before just leaving it. Unusual for him. He usually cleans it before leaving the kitchen. He checks the weather on his phone instead. Partly sunny. He contemplates calling Megan, but then shoots that idea down. He takes the earbuds out and begins his usual workout. With no end in sight.


	2. Book Club

Locus wasn’t going to go, but the book was good and he has to return it. So why not just go to the book club anyways?

He gets there early. Like Megan just woke up, kind of early. She lets him in to make himself comfortable. He does. This isn’t odd for him to do. She knows he’s a major early bird. While she goes to get ready for the day, Locus goes into the kitchen to make breakfast for everyone. It’s the least he can do.

Megan walks into the kitchen to see the book club book on the counter while he’s cooking. “So, you’re here for a session and the book club?”

“Maybe.”

“You’ll love it,” she cheerfully tells him. “Can you go wake up Mase and have him get the kids up and ready for school?”

“Sure,” Locus complies. He’s basically accepted into this family. The kids both call him uncle and love to see him around. So, this is very normal for him to do.

“Mase?” locus knocks on the door. No answer. “Mase, I’m coming in,” he opens the door. He’s just sleeping.

He walks over to the bed and gently pushes on Mason’s shoulder. 

“Wake up Mase.”

Mason groans and looks up at him, then turns back over to go back to sleep.

“Mason, your wife says to get up and get the kids up and get them ready for school. Breakfast is almost ready.”

“Fine,” Mason sits up. “I’ll get up.”

“Good,” Locus leaves the room. He heads back to the kitchen. 

“Thank you,” she smiles at him when he enters. “Could you set the table for me?”

Locus nods and gets out five of everything to set the table. When he finishes, the kids come running out. They get excited when they see that Locus is here.

“Uncle!” they both exclaim and rush him. He kneels down and opens his arms to hug them.

“How have you two been?” he asks.

“So good,” Emma, the eldest, says. “I got a star yesterday for being the best in class!” 

“That’s really cool,” Locus encourages her.

“An I got candy!” Lily, the younger one, proudly smiles. 

“That sounds wonderful! Let’s have breakfast now!” 

“Yeah!” they both yell.

Everyone sits at the table as Megan sets everything down. They all eat breakfast together nicely. Locus knows the kids are going to ask him to come over more often. And he’ll say that he’ll try his hardest. Which they accept and finish getting ready for school. 

Locus helps Mason clean up before he goes to work. 

Again, Megan tells Locus he can move in if he’d like. Yeah, for medication purposes, he’d have to see someone else for. Then she’d be helping him for free. Plus being around everyone would be good for him. But, as usual, he rejects. That’s not something he can just do. He’ll feel bad by doing that because he doesn’t work and couldn’t contribute as much as he’d like to. 

“So you’re staying for the book club? I’d love to introduce you to someone in particular that I think you and him will become great friends,” she tells him after Mason leaves for work.

“Are you trying to set me up?” Locus crosses his arms. This isn’t something out of the ordinary for her to do.

“No, I just think you’ll be great friends. You both answered the same to that question, by the way,” she sits back, smiling because she’s usually right.

“You’re trying to set us up,” he rolls his eyes.

“You can think that all you want. I’ll just not even tell you who then. You can figure it out.”

Locus rolls his eyes and picks up the book. He shuffles through it making sure he knows the points he wants to talk out. Kind of ignoring her and her set up.

By afternoon, people start showing up. Megan has hor’ derves set out. There’s seven people by the start of the club. It’s about half and half gender wise. He can’t pick the person out who she was talking about. 

Everyone engages in small talk because they know one another. Then Megan brings them together to begin.

“So everyone, we have a new member. He’s shy and goes by Locus,” she gestures to him.

“Hi,” he does shyly wave.

Everyone introduces themselves except for one. “This is Wash,” Megan says for him. “He also goes by a different name than his birth name,” Megan looks right at Locus as she says that. 

Wash and Locus both look at her to just stop now. Which she thankfully does and continues on with talking about the book.

“And as usual, we’ll split into the two usual groups,” she cheerfully divides it down the middle.

Of course Wash is on Locus’ side. Locus just listens to everyone to figure out how this goes. It’s when Wash starts talking about the book that Locus has to join in. He makes similar remarks as adds to him with proof from the book. They go back and forth so easily. It’s something they keep doing until Megan has to bring them back together. Then they don’t even talk again. Well, not until Megan asks one of them to express their opinion to the whole group. Which they do, but become more of a recluse. Fine by them. It’s an experience.

When the new book is revealed, everyone chats then heads home. Wash stays back to talk to Megan. Locus cleans up the living room and kitchen. He can hear Megan talking about him to Wash. He wants to tell her to stop, but she won’t listen because she really does know what’s best for him. Like he actually enjoyed the book club and will be back for the next one next month.

Locus comes out of the kitchen when he hears the front door close. His arms crossed.

“Why do you have to be so persistent?” he asks. 

“Because neither of you will go meet new people and you’re alike in a lot of ways,” she walks past him to finish cleaning up.

“And?” Locus grumpily replies. He doesn’t care about meeting anyone new. They wouldn’t really understand him anyways. 

“You need more friends or anything outside of your therapist.”

“Why?” 

“Because you can’t just depend on me,” she pats his shoulder. “Okay? Trust me. I’ll go with you both then to make you more comfortable?” 

“No, fine. Maybe in a month or a year.”

“This week.”

“I need time to mentally prepare and I’m sure he’ll need that too since you said he’s like me.” 

“Locus,” She puts both her hands on his shoulders and glares at him. A 5 foot 4 woman starting down a 6 foot 3 man. 

“Fine. Just let me know in advance when this is supposed to be.”

“Okay!” she cheerfully takes her phone out to text Wash.

He leaves the room immediately so he doesn’t know what’s going on. He’s sitting on the Wu’s bed for now. He lays back. He closes his eyes. Tired, but trying not to fall asleep. He does anyways. 

“Locus,” Mason pushes on his shoulder. 

“Sorry,” Locus opens his eyes slowly. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

“It’s okay. Do you want some dinner?”

“Nah. I’ll just be going home. I don’t want to hear about the date she’s setting me up for.”

“Ha,” Mason chuckles, “okay.”

The two walk out of the bedroom. He waves to Megan and leaves. Thankfully the sun has gone down. Longer nights is his favorite time of the year. 

He slowly walks home. Stopping at the grocery store just because he’s bored. He looks down every aisle with dare. Taking up time from going home. He gets way more than he actually needs, yet he’s getting it all anyways.

Then he realuizes he has to walk home with fistfulls of groceries. He sighs and finishes heading home. It seems to take him forever to get home. When he does, he sets everything on the kitchen counters. He starts putting it all away except for what he’s having for dinner. Well, his breakfast actually. He makes some box mac n cheese for now.

When it’s done, he puts it in a bowl and takes it to the couch. He turns on his tablet and puts some documentary on. He takes a bite then looks at his phone. He has a text from an unknown number. 

“This is Wash. Megan gave me your number and wanted a screenshot to prove I did so.”

He rolls his eyes and replies, “This is Locus. Of course she did.”

There’s no response for a bit. So he puts his phone down and pays attention to the documentary. Halfway through the bowl of mac n cheese, his phone buzzes again.

“Yeah sorry. I don’t understand why she’s being like this :P “

He nods at the message. He’s not fully understanding it either even though she’s tried to explain it to him. Because he’s just fine sitting at home alone eating his mac n cheese. 

“Same,” Locus finally texts back. “It’s okay though.”

Which is true. It’s whatever, so it doesn’t matter. Not really. He eats the rest of his meal peacefully. Park of him is interested in Wash. But another part realizes he’s alone and does need some form of human contact. Maybe he’ll give it a try, but not tell Megan about it.


	3. Who Dates Anymore?

The day before the supposed date, Locus is looking at his phone, More specifically, he’s looking at Wash’s number to text him. He opens it in messages and types “How are you doing?” He hovers his thumb above send and decides he shouldn’t send it to him. He just sets the phone down and accidentally hits send.

“No!” Locus exclaims out loud. “Fuck!” 

He pushes his phone away from him. He doesn’t want to know the response, if any. Then, it buzzes.

“No…” Locus hesitates.

He slowly reaches for his phone to look at the message. 

“I died in game because this message scared me and I didn’t know my phone was off silent.”

Locus chuckles. The hesitation fades away as he thinks of how that would’ve been funny to see it happening.

“What game?” Locus asks. He’s interested in this now though. Games? Something to pass the time maybe? This could be something he could have in common with Wash?

“Rift. Have you heard of it?” 

“No? What kind of game is it and what’s it about?”

Wash explains that it’s a type of fantasy game. You create a character from certain classes and go one quests until you hit end game. He didn’t explain it very well. But he starts showing pictures of his character and showing some things he does.

“I’m interested in it. Is there a link for me to download it?”

Wash sends him the link and he copies it onto his laptop to start the download process. Which seems like it’s going to take forever.

“Thank you. I’ll look into it once it finishes downloading!”

“ :D pick the shard Deepwood when you do get to it!” 

They go silent for the rest of the night. It feels like it takes forever for the game to download. It finishes around 4am and opens it up. He puts his bowl of cereal to the side and gets ready to make his character.

Before he knows it, he’s up till noon playing. He didn’t mean to stay up that late, yet here he is. Already in Stonefield at level 23. He texts Wash that and decides to go to bed because he’s absolutely exhausted now.

Date night comes around and they’re texting one another. 

“So… do we really want to go out?” Wash asks. Locus was thinking the same thing. He doesn’t want to go out. Not really.

“Not really, but Megan will hound us otherwise,” Locus replies.

“Ah tru :/ I didn’t think about that…”

Locus thinks for a moment. Maybe there’s something they could do that constitutes as a date. What could they do? Then he figures it out.

“We could date in rift?”

There’s silence for a little while. Locus already has Rift opened up because he feels Wash will be all for it. And he’s right.

“ ;_; yes!”

It makes Locus smile. This is perfect for them. Interactions without actually being there together. They decide to meet up in Granite Falls. They meet on one of the rocks in the middle of the lake, looking towards the waterfall. Then they start talking in chat.

“So what do people on dates even talk about?” Wash asks.

“I don’t know? About ourselves?” 

“Probably,” Wash hits enter then types more. “I guess I could tell you about this manga I like?”

“Tell me about it.”

“So… it’s about this ex military dude that adopts a child and a dumbass and they go on the hunt for this treasure map that the child could decode because of her father that’s in jail.”

“That sounds interesting and like a lot goes on”

“Oh it’s very good. If you like any manga, you should try that!” 

“I wrote it down to look it up later to give it a try.”

“If you do, I’ll let you figure out who’s my favorite character xD” 

“I’ll figure it out most likely xD” he hits send then continues typing, “Speaking of ex military, I was in the army.”

“:o?” 

“Yeah, I was honorably discharged a few years ago. I did two tours in Iraq.” 

“Oh, fun. I was going to join, but an ex convinced me to not and instead I got emotionally abused. I feel like I should’ve joined instead.”

Locus frowns at that. He feels something in his chest from that. He doesn’t understand why he feels this way about Wash saying that. Why would his chest hurt to read that about him?

“I, uh, for some reason feel upset about that.”

“Eh it’s fine ._. “

“ :/ “ Locus sighs and then decides to change the topic. They end up talking for hours, just sitting in the same spot. Talking about whatever comes to mind. 

Wash ends up telling him about his Teddy and some more about his ex. Locus explains the whole therapist thing and what he does at home. They agree with one another that being up at night is way better than being up during the day. 

Once they run out of something to talk about, they get up and go run dungeons that him and Wash can do. Mostly Wash carry Locus through them. Which he’s fine with. He just wants to be a completionist about it. Finish everything he can. One day he’ll have all the achievements too. Once they can’t do anymore, they decide to get off for the night. It’s only 3 am. But both of them are tired and just ready to go to bed. 

By mid afternoon, Locus’ phone is blowing up. He groans and picks it up. It’s all from Megan except for one that’s from Wash. He looks at the one from Wash first. It mentions how the Rift date was very nice and relaxing. Locus agrees. He texts back that they should do it again sometime soon.

Then he looks at Megan’s texts. She’s asking how it went. What did they do. Things like that. He rolls his eyes and puts his phone back down. He doesn’t need to answer right now. He will later since she still won’t leave him alone the rest of the afternoon. He doesn’t want to deal with that. 


	4. Mirror Images

A few days pass and Wash is over at Locus’ apartment with his laptop. Yeah, they’re just sitting in the same room together playing Rift, but it’s comfortable. The silence. In game chatting instead of talking out loud. It’s the perfect date for them.

Locus does make dinner. Salads with some homemade ravioli he made the day before. He put some hamburger and a little bit of cheese in each one.

“You are a good ass cook,” Wash mentions after taking his first bite. He’s loving it. It’s way better than anything he’s had before.

“I’m glad you like it. There’s enough for you to take home with you if you’d like?” Locus smiles shyly.

“Might have to take you up on that offer,” he nods.

“After we finish, I’ll get it ready for you and put it in the fridge for now.”

They continue eating silently, but peacefully. There’s something about the two that feels completely perfect together. They don’t know what it is. Neither could describe any of their feelings if asked to. Clueless. All they know is they like the same interests. Staying away from people and playing games. 

“Thank you,” Locus tells Wash as he just starts doing the dishes. “You didn’t have to. I can do that.”

“No, you cooked, I’ll help clean.”

Locus nods and dries them. They finish that before going back to their laptops. They play Rift again for hours to come. Getting through so much being partners. It makes getting the achievements easier with two people. 

Before they know it, it’s 2 in the morning.

“Holy shit it’s late,” Wash points out. “I should head home.”

“How are you getting home?” Locus asks.

“Well, buses aren’t running, so I guess I’ll walk.”

“I can drive you?”

“Noo, I don’t want to inconvenience you.”

“You’re not though?” Locus seems confused that Wash would think that.

“Well, I say no.”

“You could spend the night? Go home after the buses begin tomorrow?” he suggests.

Wash thinks for a moment. “Fine I can settle for that.”

“Okay I’ll go get the bed ready.” Locus goes into his bedroom. He takes one pillow and his extra blanket to the living room. “Bed’s ready,” he gestures to the bedroom.

“Wait what? DOn’t I get the couch then?” Wash asks. He feels bad now.

“No, you’re the guest. You can have the bed,” he nods like it makes perfect sense to him.

“But-”

“Please take the bed. I’ll probably be up before you anyway.” Which is only true because Wash is there. Otherwise he wouldn’t really be up that early unless it was to meet Megan.

Wash thinks about it. “What if we compromise?”

Locus looks confused.

“Like how big is your bed?”

“Full size?”

“That’s big enough for both of us.”

“...sleep together?” the gears in Locus’ brain are turning.

“Yeah. A compromise.” Wash smiles.

“As long as you’re okay with it?”

“Of course.” 

Locus nods and leads Wash to his bedroom. It’s filled with tons of books. All of which are organized by color. It’s good. He takes his night pants to the bathroom to politely change. He also braids his hair for the night.

He comes out in just his night pants. He looks to Wash and it clicks. 

“Would you like a shirt to change into?”

Wash looks at him and doesn’t say anything.

“Hello?” Locus waves his hand. “Do you want a shirt for tonight?”

“Uh,” Wash looks away. “Yeah, that’d be nice.”

Locus nods and gets a shirt that’s even big on him. He hands it to Wash. 

“You can use the bathroom if you’d like, to change.”

Wash silently mouths “okay” and heads to the bathroom. He changes and comes out to Locus in reading glasses, reading in bed. He takes slow deep breaths then makes his way to the bed. He gets in and lays on his side with his back to Locus.

“Goodnight Wash,” Locus leans over and turns off the light.

“Goodnight.” Wash’s chest feels weird. He doesn’t understand this feeling. He just tries to calm himself enough to fall asleep.

Mid morning Locus is up making breakfast. He’s making pancakes. Something simple and easy to make. He doesn’t know what Wash would want, so he made something he thought that Wash would be okay with. He makes a pot of coffee. He drinks a cup himself before going to wake up Wash.

“Wash? I have coffee and breakfast ready for you,” he softly tells him.

Wash groans and eventually opens his eyes. “What?”

“I made pancakes and some coffee. Come out when you’re ready.”

Locus heads back to the kitchen. Wash sits up and stretches. He comes out to see the pancakes and then he looks at Locus. Who is shirtless. That beautiful tummy of his. He could live here forever.

He sits at the table. “Pancakes are my favorite,” he tells Locus.

“Really?” Locus is surprised. “I’m glad I made them,” he sets the plate between them so they can grab however many pancakes they want. And the syrup, Locus moves to be closer to Wash.

“You can take a shower after you finish before you go, if you’d like,” Locus offers. 

“Uh,” Wash hesitates. 

“You can use all my washes. I don’t mind,” he smiles. He really doesn’t care. He’ll happily share whatever is his. He feels fine with it all.

“Okay, yeah. I’d like that since I didn’t get to last night.”

Locus gets up to put extra towels on the bathroom since. He then comes back to Wash. 

“Everything’s ready for you. The water is weird though. The heat is on the right and the cold on the left. I haven’t bothered changing it.”

Wash silently snorts. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

Wash heads to the bathroom once he finishes eating. He takes yesterday’s clothes and sets them on the sink counter with the towels. He looks around at everything first. The way it’s organized. He enjoys the cleanliness. He takes his shower and feels better. He dresses and slowly heads out. He finds that Locus got dressed in that time period. He’s dressed in gothic clothing. He isn’t used to seeing someone like him dressed like that. Black pants with a black tank top. Then leather black jacket. His hair pulled back. He even has black boots. 

“Going somewhere?” Wash asks.

“To take you to the bus stop and wait till you get on.”

“Oh…” He didn’t think about that. It’s a kind act nobody before Locus would even consider. He thinks this is suspicious. Why would he even do this?

“Is that okay?” Locus asks.

“Yeah, that’s okay.”

Locus goes to get an umbrella. A black lace once. It’s one Wash wishes he had the confidence to get one. After Wash puts his goes on, grab his laptop, and the leftovers, the two head out. 

Before getting out of the apartment building, Locus puts on some black gloves and opens the umbrella. They walk a little ways before Wash has to say something. 

“I never thought you’d be a goth man.”

“I despise the sun. It’s something that happened after Iraq. The sun literally hurts me.”

“Mood. I hate the sun, so that’s fine with me. Which is why I hate being up during the day.”

“Me too.” 

They get to the bus stop and sit together under the umbrella. 

“I love the umbrella by the way,” Wash mentions.

“I looked through many different ones. This was the only one I really liked.”

“I’ve always wanted one like that. It’s cool.”

Locus nods and they go back to silence until the bus comes. They say their goodbyes for now, then head to their respective homes.


End file.
